For most it’s a colossal waste of time and energy.

This included installing new tile flooring at the front of the house to enhance curb appeal, upgrading the electrical panels for safety and efficiency, and putting on a new roof to ensure long-term durability.

Regulation has slowed the market and made it harder to be an operator.I've never operated my Airbnb to its maximum efficiency because of the time it takes. 

Take the time, energy and resources you are allocating towards this and refocus it on the underlying real estate.

I think this gets missed sometimes, or people are surprised that they are taking a lot of risk AND energy/time to get returns generally available already with much lower of the two

The booker is less concerned about the price as they are getting the workers' housing settled efficiently.

And being a beast of focus, attacking that 1-thing, will assure your maximum efficiency. 

I'd like a systematic way, that's more efficient than my current excel sheet, to ensure I'm following up weekly with the same people while keeping notes etc.

They also require less time compared to owning a rental outright.The reasons that I don't like REIT's as you mentioned in your post is that they are not efficient from a tax standpoint.From my understanding, REITS pay ordinary dividends and not qualified dividends.

Typically a worthwhile real estate broker will save you time through efficiency and add at least equivalent value in actual dollars through effectiveness.